Hi! I'm thinking about getting a springtails culture and seeding my tank with it. What do I need to do too accomplish this? Do I just throw some in and feed them every week? What do I feed them? Some sites say rice or yeast; others mushrooms and fish flakes. Should I keep a main culture on the sidejust in case? Do I need a different substrate than my sphagnum moss? Will my frog being in there affect the culture too greatly?

Sorry I have so many questions. I just want to make sure I get everything right. My f/f cultures sometimes bust and i need a back up. Thank you for your help and time.
Obiwan5090

If you buy a culture I would split it. 1/2 in the viv and keep 1/2 back to look after. That, or buy two. All the foods you mentioned are fine. The sphagnum is fine too, but a nice thick layer of leaf litter on top of that is going to give the springstails refuge from the frogs and a place to breed inside the viv.

Best

Thanks! That helps me a lot. Just one more quick question. How would I use leaf litter and what kind? I never used the stuff before.

Thank you.

I use live oak and magnolia leaves, but any many leaves that don't break down to fast are good too. Even leaves that do break down fast can be used, but they will just need to be replaced more often.

I would recommend at least an inch thick of leaf litter in any viv.

Here's a pic of the floor one of my vivs. Underneath the fresh leaves are lots of decomposing leaves. I just keep adding them when needed.



In this thread you can see just how many leaves are added when building a viv.

Viv bottom

I don't have those kind of trees growing around my area. Should I just buy some off Josh's Frogs? I know absolutely nothing about leaf litter, and I don't know whether you just go and pick up some leaves around you. (Nice Azureus by the way)

That would be fine and thanks!

Important question I forgot to ask. How will my frog get calcium in? I plan to feed dusted f/f, but I don't know how it will get Calcium from the springtails. Will it just eat enough f/f to get calcium in?
Thanks again,
Obiwan5090

Yepper.

What kind of supplements do you plan on using?

I use Rephasy Calcium Plus. It was recommended to me as the all purpose supplement when I got the frog. BTW how old is your frog. I got mine 3 months ago as a tiny frog, and it has now grown to a inch long. I need a comparison to find out how old it is.

That's what I use too.

That's an adult male just coming out of a winter cycle, so he's a little lean.

They grow very fast once they get past the one inch size!